The Bishop of Liverpool, who led efforts to uncover the truth about the Hillsborough tragedy, has announced he will retire on his 65th birthday in August.

As chairman of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, the Rt Rev James Jones played an instrumental role in establishing that Liverpool fans were not to blame for the catastrophe.

The bishop said by standing aside he would give his successor the opportunity to form a new leadership team.

In a report published in September, the Hillsborough Independent Panel revealed that a cover-up to shift the blame on to the victims took place following the disaster.

A series of reviews are looking into the actions of police officers involved in the Hillsborough inquiry following the tragedy in April 1989, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool supporters. The bishop will remain as adviser to the Home Secretary on Hillsborough after he retires.

In a letter to his Diocese, he wrote: "It has been a privilege as Bishop to serve the wider community, not least in chairing the Hillsborough Independent Panel. The Diocese has recognised the rightness of me doing this which has given me great strength. The way the families and survivors have received the panel's report and the way truth is now opening up the path to justice affirms the worth of the panel's work."

He was reportedly persuaded to take up the post as Bishop of Liverpool in 1998 by Tony Blair despite misgivings due to family reasons. He has three children. His reported relationship with the then newly-elected prime minister earned him the nickname in the press of "Blair's bishop".

After the Independent Hillsborough Panel's report was published, Bishop Jones revealed he had fought to keep the funding for it when the coalition Government came into power in 2010. He also said that throughout its work examining 450,000 pages of previously unseen documents, he kept a photograph on his desk of the stadium at 2.59pm on the day of the disaster and the names of the 96 people who died.

An evangelical, he was one of nine diocesan bishops in the Church of England who publicly opposed the appointment of openly gay cleric Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading in 2004. But he has since apologised to Dr John and his partner for "adding to their pain and distress".